NEW BEAUTY posted “Teenagers Are Spending More Time on Their Beauty Routine Than You Are. But What Does That Mean for Their Skin?” featuring Dr. Purvisha Patel and Visha Skincare .
The article includes Dr. Patel‘s expert commentary on the best skin routine for young teens.
Zac Mathias is diligent with his skin-care routine: Microdermabrasion every four weeks, HydraFacials frequently and “all the other kinds of” facials about once a month. He has a preference for natural lines— Indie Lee is a current favorite—but he also researches and purchases a lot of products and actives online and at his derm’s office in Westport, CT, which he frequents often.
When it comes to body care, he’s equally as focused with moisturizing, exfoliating and dry-brushing regularly (he refers to it as “the whole run down”); he recently got into derma-rolling and just finished reading The Beauty Geek’s Guide to Skincare: 1,000 Definitions of the Most Common Ingredients.
He’s also 16.
While other teenagers may need to be wrangled to wash their face every night, Mathias, who says he does get a “breakout from time to time,” is in-tune with the whole prevention message so many skin-care brands preach. (He’s also a design-based blogger who sometimes receives beauty products to test and review.)
“People, like my classmates, always tell me I’m too young to get wrinkles. But if I wait until I’m 50 to start moisturizing, there’s not much I can do then to fix everything—except maybe get a facelift,” he says. “I’m all about doing all this stuff while I’m young.”
Application, Application, Application: Germantown, TN dermatologist Purvisha Patel, MD makes an important point: “We used to recommend gentle skin products in preteens, but now we have preteens and teens at earlier ages thanks to hormones in foods.” Her Rx: “If a child is starting to get clogged pores and pimples at age 9–10, then I recommend starting good skin-care practice, as in washing your face twice a day with a facial cleanser versus soap /shampoo. Salicylic acid and facial exfoliants help here, and so does drinking enough water, decreasing milk intake, taking a a probiotic and washing before and after sports activities. Using too many products and not knowing how and when is when you get issues with contact irritant reactions.”